And I was thinking....

It isn’t even enough to just say Oh my God! It just isn’t. Because no number of such expressions can even begin to describe the absolute lunacy we are witnessing here. Is it really true? Are we now, after discriminating on the basis of caste, then religion, financial status, now beginning to discriminate on the basis of geography? Somebody pinch me! For the people who haven’t deciphered that I am talking about the discrimination and the fight against the enemies of Marathi manoos, well, that is what I am talking about.

Let’s trace back the events a little.

It all started with the Bhumiputra Campaign of the Shiv Sena, a brief about which is given below: (Wikipedia)
“Thackeray, then a cartoonist for the Free Press journal, initially targeted the growing number of South Indians by inflammatory slogans like "lungi hatao pungi bajao" (referring to the lungi, a Marathi word for the traditional men's dress in South India) and "yendu gundu" (a derogatory description of the Dravidian languages spoken by the people from South India). During this period, Shiv Sainiks launched a string of attacks on the South-Indian owned Udupi restaurants that were becoming popular in Mumbai. In a similar manner, Thackeray later targeted Gujaratis, Marwaris, Biharis, and people from North Indian states like Uttar Pradesh ('UPites') through his speeches. Moreover, Thackeray threatened a number of local industrialists and businessmen with action unless they offered preferential employment to Maharashtrian people.”
They did this, and no one reacted? Why???

Cut to scene 2: It’s the same story all over again. This time it’s the estranged nephew. But the politics hasn’t changed. The people have, the methods have just gotten worse and the government still remains a mute spectator.

Only the last week, one of my German friends looked all confused when I mentioned that there is virtually no action being taken against the people responsible. It was even more confusing when I mentioned that the party is an opposition one, and not the one ruling the state. Aren’t two warring parties supposed to interject each other? Why is then the chief minister of the state silent? Is he part of the conspiracy too? Of course, then we had to slip into a long drawn discussion and explanation of the way our government reacts. The lone crusaders are the representatives of the victims. Our prime minister who of course is one of the people I believe to be the sane people in this mad world of politics, is by his very nature, mute and deaf to such problems as we have seen before. An analogy between Bush and Singh? Both are worried more about external affairs rather than the internal ones! Having said that though, we know ultimately there might not be a comparison at all.

And then a man, who has been labeled “mentally deranged, lunatic” etc by the media and the state govt of Maharashtra (someone please check the facts before you go ahead with it), comes into the picture. A 22 year old man, frustrated after the beating up of North Indian candidates, holds a bus hostage and demands an audience with Raj Thackery. What is the best that our governments’ teams of negotiators do? Talk to him for 30 minutes and then shoot him down. Ironically, the government, police and our competent Home affairs minister, who is little more than a lame duck, says, violent methods like what this man used will not be tolerated, and people such as these will meet the same fate as the youngster above. Now now now! I thought we were on a Satyagrah( peace protest) against Raj Thackery and thus have not responded to the stray incidents since over a year, and more prominent ones in the past few months. I thought that’s the reason we wouldn’t arrest the man! Did we change stances somewhere! And dint the beating up of the railway candidates and the lynching of the laborer from UP even remotely resemble Violence? Wake up people! What’s going on? Are we all trance- walking? Or did we suddenly all consume some kinda drug which puts all to sleep? Or are we all blind?

Well, I suspect there’s more coming from where this was. What do you expect people to do when the govt does not do the very least which is expected of it? And why isn’t the sane Marathi (who outnumbers the insane ones by a huuuge margin) start speaking up?

I don’t think the guy was crazy, or deserved to be shot down. If he had to kill, you couldn’t have stopped him and he would have shot dead the people he injured. He wanted to talk, and since he does not have the political and police backing of people like you, this was his chosen way. I do not and will not support the way he did it, but then lets reserve that discussion for the same time when we earlier and in future will discuss the movie Rang De Basanti.
Nor did the laborer from UP deserve to die cause he was making his living in God's own city - Mumbai.
And the taxi people and the lower working from class from the states do NOT deserve to be pulled out and be beaten up or burned alive. They are doing this job cause maybe at some point you thought you were too good to do the job.

For all the many things I dislike America, I do admire one thing greatly, and that is the philosophy of "The best one for the job, gets the job"
Meanwhile, God save this country and "North" Indians